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Saturday, January 22, 2011

1: Jiminy Christmas was my post about Foot Dynamics rife with typos. I've given it a much more thorough once-over, and added some pictures of the second half of the process (heat-molding the actual shoes). Apologies to Foot Dynamics for the word salad.

2: Right now, three Russians, a Frenchman, and Chinese man are locked inside a tiny windowless capsule. They've been there for the last 233 days, undergoing a "simulation" of a mission to Mars. The goal of the project is to study the psychological hardships potentially encountered during long, interplanetary space travel. Things are about to get exciting for them, as they're close to "landing on Mars," but they have another 287 days left to go, and the return trip is supposed to be where the going really gets tough. I can't imagine signing up for this project -- it would be one thing to spend 520 days bored out of my my mind on a space ship bound for Mars (or back to Earth), where the only option is to continue the mission, and failing to stay sane, or do my job would almost certainly result in a very lonely, vacuum-of-space-induced death. It would be quite another to do so in a storage container, where I could simply open the door and leave the experiment at any time. Because their lives aren't in any real danger, I'd wager that these researchers have a very different set of psychological stresses than a real Mars mission. That said, good on 'em for sticking with it for so long. Personally, after spending 10 days in that silent meditation retreat, I can guarantee that my mind is not ready for a mission to Mars.

3: Let's hear it for Clover Leaf Dairy!

This is some great milk! It's bottled locally (in reusable glass bottles) by a small dairy, one that takes good care of its cows. You know how I know? Because the cows have names. People care for things they name -- it's not just a cow, it's Dora! Plus they invite you to see their operation -- something I know most large-scale dairies don't do. The Boise Weekly does a great job explaining why Clover Leaf Creamery is awesome. Read up Boise.